February 5, 2017 - 23:07
This week was my first visit to my group's Praxis site. The other two had already chosen a project to work on, and so they quickly settled into their projects in that cold office when we got there. R showed me the video as part of my mini-orientation, which she made an appearance in, and we talked about the organization and how it works there. Although the office didn't warm up much while we were there, we gradually became closer to R as she recounted her own personal and painful experience as a youth in an adult prison. It was a ridiculous story from start to finish, ridiculous in the sense that it was hard to believe, yet disappointingly unsurprising at the same time. As I sit here writing now, I continue to find myself thinking back to various details of her story that continue to anger and confound me. I have such a great admiration and respect for R, and a new found greater admiration for everyone who's ever been in her situation. Despite her extremely unfair and unfortunate situation, R studied hard while imprisonedn earning her GED and a certificate from Temple Law, all while fighting for her dignity and life in prison.
While the others worked on their own projects, I found myself opening the folder of poetry submissions from youth in prisons. After reading two or three of them, I decided that I would like to work on and help with the poetry book they are trying to publish. While it was in quite a different setting, I have experience from my high school's literary magazine. This poetry book, however, will be infitely more different based on this difference in setting, or more specifically, the setting of the writers who have submitted their writing to us.
Early on after we got there, while R was giving me my mini-orientation, she brought up the opportunity for us to lead a workshop on a Saturday. The others and I briefly discussed the possibility of this, and I think, with some help and more planning, it could be a very real possibility for us to do. It's hard to imagine what we would workshop, but the idea of it excites me. We also discussed among ourselves some possible ideas we have for the organization in reimagining and promoting the organization and its programs.